Helping Aphrodite Never Helped Anyone
by Goddess Hestia
Summary: It's Percy and Annabeth's anniversary. But what happens when Aphrodite steps in and asks for a 'favor' disrupting their day together? Well Percy and Annabeth can't say no without being cursed. Annabeth just hopes they can get this over with so she can give Percy his anniversary surprise. Post TLO.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Please review! I would love to hear back your opinion on anything you liked or disliked about this story. I hope you enjoy it and review when you finish reading!**

I put down my sketch pad slightly frustrated knowing I'm way too distracted to finish the task. It just wasn't right. The proportions were off, I must have made an error in my calculations. It doesn't matter, I reminded myself I can start the design over later. It shouldn't take too long.

I'm Annabeth Chase. And I just had a few more building plans that needed to be finalized for the reconstruction of Olympus. I crossed my arms and leaned back until my head rested on Percy's, my boyfriend, chest. He brought up a hand and began stroking my hair. We were sitting in a shady spot by the creek in Camp Half Blood's forest. It was the same spot Percy had broke Clarisse's spear the first time he played capture the flag.

And it was August 18th. That meant a lot of things. It had been a year since the battle of Manhattan. Which means it had been a year since Michael Yew and Silena Beauregard and.. Luke and so many others had died. On the bright side it was Percy's 17th birthday.

I had arranged for blue pancakes to be served for breakfast that morning. Percy had loved that. Also Tyson had come for a visit and would be staying a few nights. He was in the camps forges with the Hephaestus cabin right now. And I planned on surprising Percy later too. Because it was also our first anniversary today.

I sighed contentedly. Nothing, even finishing the final monument for Olympus, could ruin this day.

"Yuck," Percy stiffened. Who the heck was that? Percy was wide eyed thinking it was probably a monster or an intruder. Which is logical on his part since the forest was usually stocked with them. But I didn't sense danger in the one worded shrill. In fact the voice had seemed familiar, but what would a certain goddess be doing at Camp Half Blood…

"Why would you ever want to spend time in the woods?" Percy must've seen her before I did because his jaw dropped as he looked at "Aphrodite? What are you doing here?" I asked. Aphrodite seemed surprised by the tone of unpleasantness in my voice. I gulped. I didn't mean to sound that bad. "I mean what brings you here?"

Aphrodite smiled as if to say now that's more like it. "Why to see you two. My favorite demigod couple." Aphrodite gushed. I stood up and looked down at Percy expecting him to do the same. He was still gaping at Aphrodite. "Percy!" I scolded. He jumped up mumbling an apology.

I cast a glance at Aphrodite. She was gorgeous though she looked different from the last time I saw her(she had that ability to change her physical features). Her hair long and brown today fell down straight. And she had emerald green eyes and she was wearing a purple satin dress with matching high heels.

I tugged at my plain t shirt and messy curls. Why can't my hair look that soft and shiny? "And on your one year anniversary. How adorable. How have you celebrated?" she asked bring me out of my thoughts. "We ate blue pancakes." Percy said lamely. Aphrodite looked disappointed. "That's it?"

"Well I have something planned for later in the day." I responded defensively. "You do?" Percy asked turning to me. "Yeah, it's a surprise though." I say before he can ask. "Well I'm afraid you'll have to save that for another day." Aphrodite said pulling out a tube of lipstick from thin air. Literally. She began to apply it. "Why?" I asked slightly annoyed.

"Oh because I need you to do me a favor." Aphrodite said closing her hand around the tube of lipstick and when she opened her hand again it was gone. I ignored this. "What if we don't want to." I say matter of factly.

Aphrodite's eyes flickered red as fire. Her expression dangerous. "Oh you will do me this favor. Unless of course you would like a curse that would hinder you from ever being loved again. Or Percy falling in love with one of my daughters. You're choice." Aphrodite said evenly. I gulped again.

"Um, what favor do you need from us?" Percy asked for me. "Oh it's rather simple. All you have to do is travel to Maryland. There's a small city just north of Annapolis. There's a man that lives in a cottage on Peckleberry street. I left something there. It's important and I need it back."

"You want us to get it? What is it exactly?" Percy asked. "You don't need to worry about that right now. Just get there and you will know it when you see it." Aphrodite said smoothing out her skirt. "You're not going to tell us what it is?" Percy frowned. "No." Aphrodite said simply. "You expect us to retrieve this for you but you won't even tell us what it is?" I chimed back in.

"That's right." Aphrodite answered mischievously. I sighed. It's not like we had a choice, we were forced to do this for her. "When's our deadline?" I say. "Oh right, forgot about that." Aphrodite started. "Way to go, Annabeth." Percy grumbled. I elbowed him in the ribs forgetting momentarily that he's invincible. "Ow," I say as I rub my arm.

"No, it's not Annabeth's fault. The deadline is important. I need this by the full moon." Aphrodite said. "The full moon? That's tomorrow night." I blurt out. "Is it? Oopsies. I had no idea. You know I had meant to come by sooner and tell you so you would have more time but I forgot." Aphrodite says bashfully.

"Well thanks for the thought!" I remark sarcastically. "You're welcome," Aphrodite says nicely. I roll my eyes. "So tell me, why can't you do this?" I inquire harshly. "Annabeth," Percy warns placing a hand on my back.

Aphrodite ignores this exchange though. "I can't because that man is terribly in love with me. If I go back there he'll drone on and beg me to stay. I don't have the time for that so you'll just have to break in and steal it back for me." she explains.

"How are we going to get there?" I wonder out loud. "Drive or take a Pegasus. I really don't care." Aphrodite says feigning a yawn. "I wasn't asking you." I say balling my hands into fists. "Annabeth," Percy says my name again turning me toward him this time. "Just one second," Percy throws over his shoulder to Aphrodite before we turn our back towards her.

"What do we do?" I ask. "We could see if Blackjack is up for the trip. Or we could ask my dad for some underwater transportation." Percy suggested. I nodded "We better pack right now. We can meet at the stables as soon as we're done." I say. Percy agrees and we turn around to face Aphrodite.

"Ok, we're ready. We can do this." Percy tells her. "Great," Aphrodite exclaims. I scowl at her bubbliness. "I'll be here tomorrow after sundown to collect. But let's make it the big house instead of here." Aphrodite said looking around. "Sure thing," Percy smiles. He's so cute. He doesn't even have to try hard and he just looks so attractive. Sorry, distraction.

"Annabeth, one last thing darling. If you succeed I will grant you a wish. It has to be within my domain of course. Love, beauty." Aphrodite says. "Maybe something about that nose." Aphrodite says as an after thought pointing at my nose.

My jaw drops but before I can say anything Aphrodite begins to glow. She waves in farewell, we avert our eyes as she reveals her true divine form. A pink light flashes and she's gone. "Ugh, I really don't want to do this." I complain to Percy. "I know, I don't want to either. But it'll be over before we know it," Percy consoles placing his hands around my waist. "Alright," I say placing my hands around his neck.

He kissed me pulling me closer to him. I smile against his lips as I place one hand on the side of his face and the other I tangle in his hair. I groan after a minute before pulling away. "We have to go. We only have-" I glance at my watch reading the time. It was four in the afternoon. "-less than 28 hours."

"Ok," Percy says simply. We begin walking and he takes my hand as we walk through the woods to our cabins. "So what's this surprise..?" Percy asked. "It's a surprise Percy. I can't tell you. You'll just have to wait and see until we get back." I intone. Percy pouted momentarily but then his expression turned thoughtful.

"_If_ we get back. I don't know about you, but I have a feeling there's something Aphrodite wasn't telling us." Percy says. I draw circles with my thumb over the back of his hand silently for a moment. "Oh, I know there's something she's not telling us." I say. "But don't worry. I'm sure it's nothing. This'll be a piece of cake." I say confidently. Percy agrees as we reach the cabins. He kisses me on the cheek before departing to his cabin as I head into mine.

**Don't forget to review. Tell me what you think is going to happen next. What do you think Annabeth's surprise is? What's up with Aphrodite sending Percy and Annabeth to this man's house? What did Aphrodite leave at the man's house? Heads up next chapter will most likely be longer.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: So I had intended for this to be only two chapters but it came out longer than I expected so I'll be posting two or three more chapters after this one also. And thank you to Eve-Kataanger and mariemarc44 for their nice reviews! I'm glad you guys liked it and I hope you like this one!**

"Ouch, Perce." I complain rubbing my head. "Sorry, I don't know how to work this thing." Percy apologized. We were currently on a submarine. Not my idea of how I wanted to spend our anniversary night. Well at least it was better than a ship. We had asked Blackjack if he could take us but apparently he had raced with another Pegasus earlier all the way to Maine so he was too tired.

Percy wasn't too picky about transportation since he could breathe underwater and he didn't get seasick. But he had prayed to his dad for a way to travel underwater that would suit me.

So his dad had sent us one of his submarines to use. It was small, no bigger than the size of my bedroom back home. And Percy didn't quite know how to navigate it just yet. Annabeth didn't blame him. It had all sorts of control panels and a periscope and a green lit radar like the ones you see in movies that beeps rhythmically as it scans. Percy had steered too close to a huge coral reef and they collided. The submarine had jolted to the right which caused me to fall and hit my head.

Percy had managed to stay upright and helped me to my feet. "It's fine. How much further?" I ask. "300 nautical miles." Hmm, impressive. We had only gone aboard an hour ago. And Percy had said then we were 430 nautical miles away. Obviously it's magic and would travel way faster than normal. I looked out the big window that was in front of the submarine.

Brightly colored schools of fish blurred past as we went. The water was dark blue now that the sun's light didn't reach it. I was reminded of Tyson when I saw seahorses and hippocampi playing together out there. Tyson hadn't taken the news of us leaving so well. He wanted to come on the 'adventure' too. Percy had told him we didn't even want to go but that we would be back with plenty of time before he went back to the cyclopes' forges.

I sat down once again deciding to rifle through my backpack as I came up with a plan. "What are you doing?" Percy asked putting the submarine on autopilot. "Just seeing what I have so that I can make a plan." I say simply. I pull out first my yankees cap, my sketch pad, a demigod compass for tracking monsters (it worked well for being the first of its kind invented by yours truly and my siblings), ambrosia, and a greek powder bomb which wasn't as bad as greek fire since it only made it impossible to see for a few seconds.

That and my knife strapped on my arm were the only things I had to defend myself. It should be enough under normal circumstances, well as normal as it gets for a demigod. I started putting everything back in the backpack.

"So when we get there, we can see if there are monsters around with the compass, I can go in invisibly to make sure the coast is clear. Once I do that, we'll look for whatever it is Aphrodite wants." I explain. "And that should be the biggest challenge, Finding out how we'll know what's Aphrodite's." Percys points out.

"Eh, that might not be too hard once we see it." I yawn. It's probably early but a lot has happened today. "Why don't you try sleeping? We have a little less than three hours before we get there," Percy suggested. I nod even though I don't know how I'll get comfortable on the hard floor of the submarine.

I decide on sleeping on Percy. I lay my head on his lap. If he wants to get up later, which he'll have to since he needs to steer, I'll be fast asleep and he can just rest my head on the floor. "Annabeth," Percy says softly as my eyelids begin to become heavy.

"Yes, Percy?" I looked up at him through my eyelashes. He stared into my eyes the way he sometimes does and I just lose myself in his green orbs until he's ready to say what's on his mind.

"This has been the best year of my life. And it's all because of you. I hope you know that." Percy says unexpectedly. I sit up so that I'm eye level with him. "Me too, Percy. But why are you telling me this." I asked slightly concerned. His expression turns worried. And then I remember when we were walking through the woods, when he asked me about my surprise for him, he had that same expression he has on now. But I hadn't thought anything of it.

"I was talking to Thalia, you know iris message, and she said I'm unromantic," Percy said shaking his head like he couldn't believe he was telling me this. "Is unromantic even a word?" I interrupted. Percy shrugged. I told him to go on. "She said you were going to leave me because I treat you like a buddy instead of showing you how I feel."

"Percy, were you and Thalia arguing when she told you this?" I ask. "Yes." Percy answered. "Then you shouldn't listen to her. She was just saying it out of anger." I assure him. "But it's true. I pretty much act the same way I always have with you except for you know, making out." Percy finished. "And you've always treated me good Percy. We watch each other's backs and you're one of the only people I've ever fully trusted." I tell him.

"Besides Percy were not like other couples. What we have is real. And we don't need meaningless stuff to prove how much we care for each other. I don't even need huge romantic gestures all the time." I add. "But you always do thoughtful romantic stuff for me anyways." Percy says. "Pft, when?" I retort. "Well most recently, the surprise you have planned for me." Percy says. "It's our one year anniversary. I had to do something." I insist.

"But I didn't do anything big." Percy said pouting. "You did. You got me this," I remind him pulling out the necklace, a silver chain with a single round brilliant cut diamond. He had given it to me this morning. I had opened the velvet box nervously. But as soon as I saw it I asked Percy to put it on for me. It was simple yet beautiful. But I try not to think about how much it cost him..

I wrap my hand around the diamond "And I love it." I say truthfully. Percy smiled before scooting closer to me. "I'm glad you do." he said. I placed a peck on his lips for emphasis. "You know maybe I'd feel even better if you told me about that surprise of yours." Percy smirked and I know he's better now. "You wish." I say leaning my head on his shoulder.

"Oof," I say as I realize the submarine floor is tilted causing me to slide on the floor slightly. I look up dazed. I had fallen asleep. My head was resting on my backpack and my legs sprawled out. Percy steered it to where it was level. "What happened?" I wondered aloud feeling groggy from my nap. "I went to the surface, but when I went back underwater I dipped down to low." Percy explained.

I stand up and stretch. "How much longer?" I ask referring to when we will arrive. "Oh, we're already there." Percy says. "We are?" I ask. "Yes, just a little further and then I just have to figure out how to beach this thing." Percy said his eyebrows furrowed. Ooh, I never even thought how we're going to dock this thing. He ended up praying to his dad to take it off our hands once we disembark.

Poseidon must've heard because once we were standing on the riverbank the submarine began to spin before it seemed to sink down and was swallowed up by the water. "He got it." Percy stated. "Okay, so we must be just east of Annapolis." I say. "How do you know?" Percy asked. He seemed tired now probably because we were out of the ocean. "Because of that sign right there." I point towards the big green interstate sign that said four miles to Annapolis.

"Oh okay. Let's get going." Percy says leading the way.

**Please review! I would love to hear your thoughts about this story. Thanks for reading and next chapter will be up soon!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: So I always post when it's getting late. At least in my time zone, it's pretty late. Anyways, new chapter! I wanted to include some action/monster fighting, so that's what I did. Read on to find out! Special thanks to Grace Park and Eve-Kataanger for reviewing. I hope you both like this chapter as well :)**

The bus trudged along. I glanced out of the window. It was after midnight. There was nobody else on the bus but us. I was just surprised the buses ran at all at night. We had walked from when we got out of the submarine all the way to Annapolis until we found a bus station. It wasn't too long of a walk, just nine miles. I've been through worse. We had plopped down on a bus stop bench expecting that we'd have to wait until morning for one.

This one had come by a half hour after we got there. The bus driver said it would only be thirty minutes to get to the city Aphrodite had told us about. We were almost there. Percy had fallen asleep and he was leaning on my shoulder.

I sighed as I layed my head on his. Just a little farther and we'll be there and then we can get this over with. "Here we are," the bus driver told me quietly since Percy was sleeping. I looked out of the window again and there was a sign that said _North Hillgrove - two miles_ and _population: 2,552_. Dang, that's small.

I shook Percy awake. "Percy, were here," I said, my voice soft. By the time he woke up the bus driver had stopped. Percy rubbed his eyes before sitting up straight. We each grabbed our backpack. I wrapped my arm around Percy's waist as we walked off. "Thank you," I called to the bus driver.

The streets were quiet. We seemed to be in some sort of town square. What to do now? I started walking down the street looking for a hotel or somewhere open that I could ask for directions to one. I had wanted to go to the house during the dark hours thinking we could use the darkness to our advantage in breaking into the house. But Percy was tired and quite frankly I was tired too. Chiron always said a tired demigod made mistakes.

The only open place was a small hotel. I guided Percy inside. An old man was sitting at the check in desk. "Hi, we need a room for the night." I say. The man looks over Percy and I. The expression he has on his face makes me realize how bad it looks that a teenage girl and boy were checking in past midnight for one night.

I clear my throat uncomfortably. The man looks away scrolling through his computer. "I've got three rooms left. One is one bed and one bathroom. And the other two are two beds and one bathroom." he informs me. "One bed please." I say trying to refrain from being rude.

The mad raises an eyebrow though he fetches the room key and hands it to me. "Have a nice night." he says sarcastically. "Yeah, whatever." I say as I turn away from him. We find the room and Percy and I immediately fall asleep. A few hours later I wake up. I'm exhausted and I want to go back to sleep but I pull out my compass to check for monsters.

The arrow doesn't move. I sigh, too soon though. Because the arrow begins to move leisurely. I gulp as I see it move between the north and east marks towards the opposite wall where the hallway is. "Percy," I say my voice quiet. The arrow stops.

I hold my breath. There's something outside. I have to wake Percy without making a sound. I grab his shoulder and try to shake him awake. He moans and I mentally curse as the arrow begins to move again, faster this time and I can hear footsteps. "Annabeth, what's wrong?" Percy asks, my wide eyed expression waking him up. I mouth 'monster' Percy pulls out riptide, pulling off the cap to let it grow to its full size as footsteps stop right outside the door.

I pull my knife out just as the door bursts open. I cock my head to the side in confusion as I see the old man who checked us in. I momentarily wonder if the compass could be broken. No sooner does the man's top half morph into that of a storm spirit. He also begins to give off electricity.

"Where is it? You stole the liquid magic! Where is it?" he hisses sending a zap of lightning at me. "Ouch, we didn't steal anything!" I yell back as he readies to send another zap. Percy jumps out of the bed and places himself in front of me.

"Percy!" I cry as he lunges at the monster. I watch desperately as Percy dodges the monster's hurdles and tries to inflict riptide into it, but the sword is only jolted back. The monster's electricity kept Percy from being able to stab riptide all the way through the monster. The only idea I had would get us killed but hey, Percy is invincible. He could survive this.

I begin to run around the monster to attack behind him which leaves me in the hallway. "Annabeth! You'll get yourself killed!" Percy called out. Too late. I've made up my mind. "Trust me!" I yell as the monster turns to face me. "Give back the liquid magic or I'll kill you. I'll find it without you if I have to." the monster threatened. I stab it in the face using all my force. It went through before I was shocked back.

All I had done was make him mad exactly as planned. I pulled my knife out and stabbed him through his stomach. Leaving the knife there, I jumped up and grabbed the top of the doorway. "Now Percy," I yelled. Thankfully he understood.

At the same time, I swung back and then forward using the momentum to kick the knife in farther as Percy stabbed him in the back. The monster screeched and it sounded like thunder as he disintegrated leaving nothing but the smell of ozone.

Our troubles weren't over as I suspected. As the monster's last sparks of electricity dissolved, our weapons shot back out toward us. I just held onto the top of the door frame pulling my legs up to my chest. Percy didn't have time to move and he got hit by his own sword but it wouldn't hurt him like my knife would hurt me if I hadn't dodged it.

"Oof," I heard Percy moan the same time I heard my knife clatter against the wall and then to the floor. I jumped down. Percy leaned over to pick riptide up. I ran over and hugged him around the waist before he even finished capping riptide.

"I'm sorry Percy. It was all I could think of. I didn't have time to consent with you but I knew you'd be fine." I apologize. Percy placed his hands on either side of my face. "It's okay Annabeth. You saved us." Percy assured me sweetly. I nodded. Percy kissed me before releasing me. He went to the side of the bed and retrieved our back packs.

"Come on, we can't stick around here where monsters are." Percy said. "Yeah, I just need to get my knife." I agreed. I went into the hallway and picked up my knife. I tucked it into my belt as Percy closed the door to the hotel room.

We walked down into the lobby, out of the hotel, and down the street. It was darker and cooler now. Probably meant dawn was approaching. We kept walking to no particular place, just forward. After half an hour, we probably only got two miles away, we sat down on the sidewalk.

We could see the first rays of light on the horizon. "We just have to wait until it gets lighter. Then we'll be able to see where we're going." I said trying to make myself comfortable.

"Do we still have the same plan? Because now that we know monsters are involved, it complicates things." Percy stated my thoughts. "It does complicate things. But I have an idea.." I told Percy my new idea.

"Sounds like a plan worthy of Athena."

**A little bit of a cliffhanger. Next chapter Annabeth will uncover how the monster relates to Aphrodite and what Aphrodite wants back. Next chapter will either be the last, or second to last chapter. So please review so that I can do better and make this more enjoyable next time! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi guys! I meant to get this chapter published sooner so that you guys can read the ending! Well here's this chapter and hopefully I can get the last chapter up over the weekend. Enjoy and review when you're finished reading. **

"Found it," I intoned. "Really?" Percy leaned toward the computer monitor, reading over my shoulder. We were in the town's library. It had opened at a decent time so we didn't have to wait much. I had wanted to do some research to confirm my theory.

"Look here Percy." I tell him. "It says there was once a group of storm spirits who wanted to steal Hecate and Aphrodite's powers. They made a magic love potion and they tested it on creatures and humans alike. When they tried to test it on Aphrodite, Hecate came and protected her by bewitching humans to rape the storm spirits-" I explained up until Percy interrupted. "I wonder how the humans managed that." I merely looked at him.

"What? It's true." Percy defended. "You're such a seaweed brain." I muttered before going on. "Anyways Aphrodite stole the love potion from them. And Hecate put a magical restriction on the human-storm spirits children so they can only transform into monster's when there are low levels of electricity around."

"And that's what attacked us last night." Percy came to the same conclusion I had. "Yeah, life is nothing but history repeating itself." I said. It became obvious to me when I recalled this story. Aphrodite kept the love potion all this time. And now the storm spirits' children have somehow gotten it back.

"So they have the potion at the house Aphrodite told us about? This shouldn't be too hard. We already know how to fight them." Percy shrugged his shoulder. "I don't know Percy, there could be a lot of them." I counter. "But that's what we have your plan for." Percy replies.

True. My plan is simple. Too many of them means: a) because of the restriction they can't all transform at once because that would be too high of a level of electricity and b) we can use the tactic we used at the hotel, and when our weapons shoot back out when the monster disintegrates we can duck and our weapons will most likely intercept another monster. Goddess of wisdom's daughter, remember?

"Come on, we don't have much time." I say. We ran outside to find another bus. We found one and went aboard. The driver dropped us off on Haven street and told us how to get to Peckleberry street. "Hold on Perce," I said as he started walking in the direction the driver had told us.

I pulled out my compass. It showed no signs of monsters yet. "Maybe once we get closer?" I shrugged. We jogged down to Peckleberry street. I looked at my compass again. Nothing. "This thing sucks." I complain. "Why? What's wrong?" Percy asked.

"It hasn't detected monsters yet." I answer. It can't be broken because it worked earlier. I guess it could only detect monsters really close by. Stupid. We headed down the street looking for a cottage. "There," Percy whispered.

We were standing on a lawn of a small hunter green painted cottage. It had a small porch and a well kept garden to a side of the house. It looked pretty normal to me. I pulled out my compass again. Still nothing. "No monsters," I mutter.

Percy shrugs and goes up to the front door. He cracks it open. It's dark inside the cottage. "Close the door," I whisper as we step inside. Percy does as I say. I wait until my eyes adjust to the light to explore the place.

"Annabeth, look at this." Percy says. I move toward him and I see what he's talking about. "Woah, look at all this stuff." It's a collection of magical items. The Necklace of Harmonia (which made you eternally young as long as you wore it), arrow of disdain, and the dagger of time were all here along with other things.

"Hey look, these are just like the pearls we used to escape the underworld." Percy held up two small green pearls. "Cool, keep them," I mutter. "Wait Percy, look at that." I point at the other end of the table. There's a small bottle with translucent liquid inside, it kind of looks like a perfume bottle but I know it can't be that.

"It's the-" I begin but someone interrupts me when they say "Love potion, yes."

Oh crap. "But what are you doing here?" The stranger went on to ask. "Let me take care of this." Percy whispered to me. Then he stepped forward and snapped his fingers. A gust of wind fell over us and then Percy said "We were never here, we're just going to take this and go."

The stranger sneered. "Do you think I'm an idiot? Do you think an idiot could've stolen the love potion that contains Hecate's magic from Aphrodite?"

"You stole it? But how? How do you even know about all this? Mortals aren't supposed to know about greek gods." Percy asked. "Whoever said I was mortal?" the man smirked. "Who are you then?" I asked confused which doesn't happen all that often. "Morgan Smith, son of Hecate."

"Did you steal it back from Aphrodite because it has Hecate's magic?" I ask. He pretended to think about it. "Yes, but Aphrodite made it too easy for me. She took a liking to my appearance."

I scoffed. "I wonder why," I commented. Morgan glared at me. I glanced at Percy and he gave me a silent warning. I sighed "Go on," I say.

"Aphrodite brought the potion here for me to see it. I said an incantation that can erase the last twenty four hours out of a person's memory. But since Aphrodite is a goddess, it only erased her memory of that day for a short period of time. That's why she sent you to retrieve this for you. But you two are no match for me."

"Oh yeah?" I pull out my knife for emphasis. Percy follows my lead and pulls out riptide. "Fight us," Percy said. "We win, we get to take the potion. You win, you keep it and you can do whatever you want with me but Annabeth goes." Percy offered. "Deal," Morgan replied.

"What? No, I'm staying with you no matter what." I turn to Percy letting my guard down. "No, you have to get out of here if he wins." Percy argued. "I won't leave you. Besides we'll win, and we'll leave. _Together_." I say. Percy agreed.

"If you two are done saying goodbye, I'd like to start." Morgan tapped his sword impatiently. Percy and I charged. This guy was good. To be fair, he was way older than us. he had to survive somehow, and he's good at it.

But still, Percy and I kept pressing on. I could see Morgan getting tired and making mistakes. He was slowing down and he barely deflected my last jab. Percy even had managed a huge sword cut on Morgan's forearm.

Suddenly, Percy disarmed Morgan as I knocked him down. Percy and I stood over him, our weapons still drawn, breathing heavily. "We'll just take the potion and go," I smirk. Percy turned his back and I make the mistake of following suit.

Morgan stood up, "I won't just let you take it." he yelled out. He was not getting away this. I grabbed the greek powder bomb and hurdled it at him; at the same time Percy seized the potion. Then we ran out. "Wait! Annabeth!" Percy yelled trying to stop me as we ran down the street. "Perce, we have to get out of here."

"I know," Percy grabbed my hand and stopped completely. "What are you insane?" I yelled. The powder bomb will have cleared by now. "No," Percy pulled out green pearls from his pocket. "Oh my gods, you got them?" I ask surprised.

"I'm not always a seaweed brain." Percy smirked. "I guess not, well hurry." I say. Percy throws them at our feet and we each step on one. A bubble forms around us and begins to float up into the air. Suddenly it's almost as if we disappear and I can't see anything for a solid minute. Then I feel water all around me and I can see sunlight on the surface of the water.

I gasp as I break the lake's surface. "Percy," I call out worriedly which is silly because he's son of the sea god. I gasped a second time when Percy wrapped one arm around my waist and then propelled us forward. "The sun is setting. Aphrodite will be here soon." Percy says as we reach the shore. He takes my hand as we begin to run through the camp to the big house.

I feel so relieved as we reach the big house even though I tripped and fell in my rush to get over here. Percy and I land on the steps with a thud, breathing heavily. But we got there just in time because a second later we hear a snap from behind us.

"Oh hello, have you been waiting long?" Aphrodite asked. I blew a piece of hair out of my face instead of responding. "No," Percy answered rising. "Not at all," I mutter.

It was dark out now but it wasn't late yet. After giving Aphrodite the potion, I recruited Silena and Grover to help me with Percy's surprise.

She had helped me set up and find the perfect outfit. She told me to shower and change as she finished setting things up in Percy's cabin. Meanwhile Grover was keeping Percy away from his cabin.

I was in the bathroom of Percy's cabin. I looked over myself in the mirror. I was wearing a black and white striped v-neck shirt tucked into a high waisted black skirt. "Are you ready yet? Grover said he can't hold off Percy much longer." Silena called through the door. "Just one second," I called back. I put on the necklace Percy gave me and then I slipped on nude flats.

I blushed with excitement. I can't wait for Percy to see this.

**So what'd you think? Let me know in a review. Next chapter will be up soon and it will be the last one. It'll be a short one about Annabeth's surprise!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Last chapter! I'm kinda sad to see this story end but I wanted to get it up for you guys to read. Thanks for everyone who read this! It was fun writing this chapter so I hope it's fun to read it! Also I came up with an idea for a new percabeth fanfic! It will be AU and longer than this one though. So check out my profile for that. **

**Special thanks to TheGoddessIsAlive for reviewing! ****And thanks to everyone who favorited and followed.**

I opened the door and took in the sight of the cabin. Blue and black balloons littered the floor. Christmas lights hung from the ceiling and provided the only light in here. On Percy's bed were two things, a book I made that recorded Percy and I's relationship since a year ago, and sparklers.

Percy thought he was unromantic, but honestly, this took me a lot of thought. Silena had offered a few ideas but I wanted to be the one to come up with the idea. Besides presentation wasn't everything, what I cared about most was something_ important_ I had to say to Percy.

I looked over at Silena. "Nervous?" she asked. "Oh yes." I intoned. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. And Percy is going to love it." Silena said encouragingly. "Thanks, and thanks for helping me with this." I say looking around the room once more. "Could you send Percy in?" I asked. She nodded. Silena gave me a hug before exiting.

My heart began to beat faster. I couldn't calm my breathing for the whole minute it took for Percy to come in. The door creaked as it opened. I can see Percy has cleaned up as well. He's wearing a dark green polo with dark rinse jeans and brown leather converse. Percy stepped in and his eyes grew wide as he took in the decor. "Wow," he breathed out. "Surprise," I said though it came out quieter than I had meant.

Percy grinned at me. He strides over to me. "I love this, thank you," He whispers. He kisses me and I allow myself to lose myself in the sweet kiss. He pulls away and then looks over at his bed. "What's this?" he asks sitting on his bed.

"Oh right," I almost forgot about those. I sit next to him. I pick up the book and hand it to him. "See for yourself." Percy takes the leather bound book. He opens it to the first page. On the first page it reads_ If I could compress all of our first year together into one notebook it would be a book of love_. On the next page is a journal entry I wrote last year about when we kissed underwater on his birthday.

He turns the page and there's a picture of us at central park on our first date and a flower pressed to the page from the rose bouquet he got me. He flips the page again and there are movie tickets from a movie we saw together. Next to that is a journal entry about how Percy and I had thought the movie was so bad it was laughable.

I smile at the memory before glancing at Percy. His expression is priceless. He turns back to the book and flips to the last page. On the left page is a Polaroid picture of Percy's cabin that I took before I started getting ready. A short journal entry about our adventure we just had. And on the right were three simple words:_ I love you._

Percy turned towards me again. He looked at me so affectionately that my eyes unwillingly began to water. I whisper those three words to him and then he's kissing me again. We pull away. And I look outside. It's very dark now.

I stand up and say "Remember when you told me you've always wanted to play with sparklers or fireworks?" **(AN: if you don't know what a sparkler is I posted a link to a picture of one on my profile)**

"Yes, is that what these are?" he asked picking up the thin sparkler and twirling it between his fingers. I nod. His eyes light up and I laugh. "Let's go!" I say. We go outside and I light a match to start our sparklers. The wind blows my hair around. Percy laughs at me as I push it out of the way.

"Shut up," I mumble as I light his sparkler. We begin playing with them and making arches of light in the air. I spin around holding the sparkler out. And a line of light makes a circle around me for a moment. This is so much fun.

I turn to Percy to see his expression. I thought he was just mindlessly drawing with the sparkler but then I realize that they're letters.

He drew_ I_ then _L_ then _o_ and before I know it _I Love You_ is spelled out. The lights fade out and I'm blushing so bad. I can feel my face and neck heat up but I run over to Percy anyways. I kiss him as I hear the sparklers crackle with light in our hands. But it's like the rest of the world doesn't matter.

I pull away but only slightly when I see a camera flash. Percy and I look to find Silena a few feet away from us holding a camera.

"What? You're gonna need something to start your second book of love together." Silena said.

**And there you have it! How'd you like the ending? I thought it was kind of sweet. Hope you like it and that you will share you're last thoughts and opinions of this story. Remember to check out my new fanfiction. Love you guys! Muah ~ Goddess Hestia**


End file.
